Martha, pretty Martha....

So, I had this old dresser that's been hanging around our family for about 20 years.. it's a great little dresser, solid wood.. and after I moved into this most recent place, my mom let me have it (thanks mom!).... I was in a bit of a rush, so I painted it a distressed black. used wax as a finish and plopped it in my son's room. Well, turns out I learned two things with that. (a) my son needs more room.. he has over 45 pairs of jeans and over 80 shirts (it's a sick compulsion on my part, I get them all second hand or at least 70% off retail, lol). and (b) wax is a really crappy finish to put over paint. You could see the variations in sheen against the black really badly, no matter how much I buffed/polished.

Which leads me to Martha. I stripped her down of her dowdy black apparel, sanded, and used my brand new Campbell Hausfeld spray gun system (thanks to my wonderful hubby). I used a concoction of paints I mixed myself to end up with this beachy faded turquoise. This was a test in patience, because after the first coat of polyurethane (which said non-yellowing, by the way), I realized it was on too thick (didn't have the spray guide turned in the right direction), so I had to re-sand, re-paint, and re-polyurethane it. So here she is, in her new home in my dining room! I added a faint damask pattern to the drawers, added glass knobs and now she's ready to house all my son's homeschool papers and supplies! I <3 you, Martha. :) The only issue I have is that the so-called 'non-yellowing' polyurethane has yellowed in some areas.. and it bugs me, but I guess it kinda adds to her charm? LOL. Regardless, she brings character to our dining area.